Narratives of the past in Malbulen ((Mindanao, Philippines)

Laugrand, Frédéric et Laugrand, Antoine (eds.) [UCL] et al.

Elders share their stories to a group of youngsters who ask them questions on a variety of topics such as life of the ancestors, cosmogony, conflicts and social rules, spirits and animals, hunting, childbirth and marriage, burial practices, signs, dreams and religion. The book provides the verbatim accounts of these discussions recorded during a workshop that took place in Malbulen in 2015. MESSAGE 7 INTRODUCTION 9 THE PARTICIPANTS 13 CHAPTER 1 17 Life of the Ancestors From courtship to marriage (part 1) 22 Making traps and damsu offerings 25 From courtship to marriage (part 2) 29 CHAPTER 2 35 The Making of the World Mlabat, Noe, and Kanlubung 35 Cosmogony and the origin of the bad spirits 39 CHAPTER 3 47 How to Settle Conflicts Dealing with murderers: the ritual of the sadyandi 47 Dealing with stealing, incest, and debts 49 CHAPTER 4 53 Spirits and their Affects Fun: the spirit owners 53 Remedies and healing rituals 56 CHAPTER 5 63 Animals and the Forest Hunting pigs 64 Traps, guns, and dogs 67 Birds and snakes 72 Fish and small creepy beings 75 CHAPTER 6 79 From Childbirth to Puberty How to take care of a pregnant woman 79 How to take care of a newborn child 83 CHAPTER 7 89 Of Monsters and Dreams Gamaw, siling, busaw and wak-wak 89 How to make your lmagol travel: The Blaan dreams 92 Contents Narratives of the Past in Malbulen. Blaan Perspectives (Mindanao, Philippines) 6 CHAPTER 8 105 Burial Practices and the Deceased Postmortem places and the layef 111 CHAPTER 9 119 The Power of Signs Lmugan: God's assistant 119 How to build a house 125 The moon and the seasons for planting 131 CHAPTER 10 137 Blaan Perspectives: From the Past to the Present Place names in Malbulen 137 On church and faith 140 EPILOGUE 151 GLOSSARY 153 REFERENCES 164